


I failed you once, but I won't fail again

by Artemesis



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Canon Compliant, Desperation, Happy Ending, Hope, Howard Goodman is mentioned, Kind of Original Female Character (it is an A.I.), M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Original Male Character - Freeform, Xander Lee-centric, because I am not a scientist (sorry), scientific terms are purely fictional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24491929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemesis/pseuds/Artemesis
Summary: Since General John McNamara had to go into the Black and White whithout the necessary protection, Xander Lee would do everything in his power to get him back. Even if it was the last thing he did.
Relationships: Xander Lee/John McNamara
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	I failed you once, but I won't fail again

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, there! This is the first time I am posting ... well, anything and English is not my first language, so please be gentle :).  
> Shout out to my lovely betas annicornflake and oswinosgoodsscarf! Thank you for your support and help!  
> (The tilte is from “If I fail you” from the musical Black Friday by Starkid)
> 
> Have a nice day and stay save!

“RIP, give me 50% of the energy and run another simulation with a Warlov-Loop.”  
“Simulation unsuccessful.”  
“Where’s the problem?”  
“Seems like the Warlov-Loop is not the one you are searching for, Sir.”  
The even voice of the artificial intelligence, who had been Xander Lee’s loyal assistant since he had implemented her (well technically the AI was neither a she nor a he, but he had used a female voice, so whatever) into the system of PEIP shortly after he started, answered. He had named it after its attributes Robotic Interactive Program. Initially he had just referred to it as the AI, but John had thought it was too unpersonal and started to call it by its acronym: RIP. Xander had been skeptical (‘Come on John, that is my AI, my assistant; not a damn gravestone!’), but the name had spread through the department and at one point the AI began to adapt it as her name and respond to it (damn machine learning), so RIP it was.  
It showed nothing of the frustration Xander currently felt as he let her run the simulation for the nth time this day.  
“God fucking dammit…”, he swore and ran his hands through his hair. It had always been cropped pretty short, but he hadn’t taken the time to cut it. Not since -  


_‘What about John!? He’s still in there!’  
‘He’s gone!’  
_

God, if John could see him now. He would be so pissed. To the other PEIPs, John had probably appeared as a strong and ruthless but strict and disclosed leader (what he kind of was), but Xander had known him for years and him being this strict to his underlings was only to prepare them.  
(‘Don’t you think you were a little too hard on them? It was only their first week after all.’- ‘Those monsters in the Black and White won’t go easy on them either. They need to be prepared. If we lose one, it is one too many.’)  
Well, as prepared as you could be if you were working for a special unit of the US military that worked with paranormal stuff. Especially parallel universes, those were a pain in the ass. But John had a caring streak to his personality, even if only those close to him really got to see it. And Xander had had the good luck to be one of those few. They had gotten really close for a year now. He’d had plans for their anniversary. Nothing fancy, just testing the new weapons Xander had developed for PEIP, you know just making some things explode, having some fun and maybe getting dinner after.  
Only for John to play hero and save Howie (he saved that guys life, who else was allowed to give the President of the United States a nickname, if not him? _(A.N.: imagine him talking to Donald Trump and call him Donnie, hehe…)_ ), jumping through that portal without a suit for protection. But Xander would get him back even if it was the last thing he did. He would always get him back and do whatever it took and if, whatever, he would have to dissect John’s brain to get rid of an alien that had nested there.

In theory it wasn’t even that difficult. He just had to open a hole to the _Black and White_ and get John back over here.  
He just had to be careful to not build a portal, through which Wiggly could get into this dimension.  
And he had to find John.  
And reconnect the particles of his body that the Black and White had absorbed and disassembled, so that John had a physical form.  
Oh, and of course get John’s spirit (that was hopefully still intact and floating around in the Black and White, but Xander didn’t allow himself the thought that it wasn’t) to connect with said body.  
Well, maybe it was a bit difficult, but Xander was never one to back down from a challenge. Especially if it would bring back the love of his life. They both had known that, working in this job, their romance might be quite short, but it was not as if John was dead, not really. He was just out of reach and Xander had all the tools he needed to reach even further, and he would fucking use them.

“Okay RIP, different approach: extract John MacNamara’s energy signature from the previous tests with the portal and tie it to Gwihels-Algorithm. Simulate with a doubled Kearys-Loop, 70, no 75% power.”  
Nervous, he stared at the loading bar. It had to work this time.  
Then, the velvety voice of RIP sounded through the lab room again.  
“One object detected. Simulation successful.”  
For a second there was silence. Then Xander got into action. Walking from one corner of the room to another to flip a switch here, plug in a cable over there and check the parameters on a monitor somewhere else. Meanwhile he reminded himself to not get too excited. A successful simulation didn’t mean it would work. The last two times it had, in fact, not.  
The first time RIP had announced the simulation to be successful, he had still tried to use components of the portal they had used to try and defeat Wiggly, even if it bore the risk of Wiggly using it too. He had prepared everything and checked the monitors two times, three times; pressed the button, but what happened? Nothing. Not a single thing had changed. Well, he was sure the blackout that had happened in New Moscow (after the bomb Xander had helped to develop a way to get rid of the radioactive fallout and the Russians had built New Moscow) in exactly that moment and nobody could explain was just plain coincidence.  
After that he had deemed the risk of using the old portal to high if it wouldn’t even work and started to build something else. After several weeks of research, calculating and developing, RIP had declared another simulation as successful. This time something had happened. Let’s just say, his lab had not survived it. Well, most closed rooms didn’t handle exploding machines and the following shockwaves to well.  
His higher ups weren’t too happy either. They had tried to send him into some kind of forced vacation, of course just for his sake they had said. Since he had worked 25/8 for the last months, he needed some rest to recover and adapt to the loss of his partner.  
Xander refused, but apparently it was not exactly a suggestion (more like be happy we are not suspending you).

However, then there had been a, well, incident.  


_(‘Lieutenant Lee! Why have I received several complains that the accesses to the system and the badges are blocked?!’  
‘Oh Sir, that could be because I might have said “RIP, block all the accesses to the system and the badges until General Graham officially revokes my forced vacation.” She could have taken that as a command.’  
‘Well then tell her to deblock them!’  
‘RIP, please deblock the accesses and badges.’  
‘I am sorry, Sir, but I can only deblock them, if General Graham officially revokes your forced vacation.’  
‘…’  
‘I officially revoke your forced vacation.’  
‘Oh, thank you, General. RIP, you heard him.’  
‘Accesses and badges deblocked. Have a nice day, General.’)  
_

They had not tried again.

But this time, this time it had to work. Xander went over the calculations another time. Everything was correct. The cables were plugged in correctly and the switches in the right position.  
“RIP, get everything ready for execution. Like in the simulation. Full power.”  
“Systems set, Sir.”  
There was just one single button left. One key to press.  
Enter.  
For a second, there was just silence, then a constant humming that got louder and louder, as energy surged through the wires. Lamps blinked and some components of the strange machine in the room started to emit a greenish glow. Everything that was made of glass vibrated, then, _Flash, Bang_ , a shockwave.  
Silence.  
Nothing.  
Xander felt something wet drip from his nose and when he touched it, there was some blood on his fingers. It had not worked again. He started to count to ten. That was the time he allowed himself to be sad and disappointed. Then he would tell RIP to restart the systems and begin from a new approach. Maybe if he used a triple loop or connect the dissector directly to the-  
Someone exhaled behind him. Xander froze. RIP would have informed him if someone had entered the lab. In fact, no one should be able to get in, he had made sure to seal off the whole lab as a precaution. Nobody could get in here, except –  
He turned around slowly.  
And there he stood with a soft smile in his face. Still in his combat clothes, black shirt with his vest, cargo pants and reddish hair flowing in waves to his shoulders with the beret on his head.

“John.”  
“Hey, Xan.”

_(“What did you do to your hair?!)_


End file.
